Fishing Report
When is the best time to go fishing? Here in the north woods, every day is the best day. Our area contains a wide range of lakes with varied depths, shoreline structures, and a wide range of fish species. Seasoned anglers know success requires patience and a willingness to try different techniques. If you have a youngster in the group, they will most likely catch the biggest fish - it always happens. So, maybe no technique is a good strategy too. For those interested in learning about lake structure, water quality, or creel surveys, we encourage you to visit the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Lake Finder page. Area lakes will either be found in St. Louis or Lake County. Minnesota Fishing Regulations
|
June 9th, 2026 |
|
Steven Renneberg |
***Fishing Report***
Walleye - Walleye enjoyed a fantastic week of walleye fishing this last week. Slip bobber and leech bite is going strong right now and should continue until the mayflies take over. Anglers found active walleyes all over wind swept rock humps, rocky shorelines and rocky points, in 12-15ft during the day and 2-8ft during the early mornings or evening hours. Rock to mud transition areas have been the key during the daytime hours. Anglers can catch walleye this deep with a slip bobber and leech, but many have been using spinner rigs tipped with a leech, crawler or minnow to catch their walleyes. Hot colors this last week were black, gold and orange/chartreuse.
Bass - Now this part depends a lot on your specific lake you are fishing. Smallies are either getting on their beds, on their beds or just starting to come off their beds. If smallies are not quite on their beds yet, crawfish or minnow colored suspending minnow baits have been lights out in that 4-8ft of water. If smallies are on their beds, Ned rigs and tubes have been lights out. Simply drop the bait on or near the bass beds and wait for the smallies to pick it up. If bass are starting to come off their beds or are off their beds, well the best bass bite of the year is starting to happen. If bass are crushing topwater baits, that’s a great sign you are on a post spawn bite. Topwater, crankbaits, wacky worms, Ned rigs and paddle tails will all catch you a ton of aggressive bass.
Pike - Many pike anglers floated a large sucker right off their docks and caught several 30-40” pike. As cool temps return this next week, anglers should expect this bite to keep going strong. Other anglers reported excellent fishing with large swim bait, large x-raps or large spoons. Best depth this last week was 8-15ft of water near mouths of shallow bays or a small stream.
Panfish - Just like with the smallmouth bass, the lake your fishing is going to determine where the oafish are with spawning. Some lakes are just starting, while other lakes panfish are already done spawning. If panfish are just starting, anglers have been having great luck fishing small hair jigs right under a bobber in 1-4ft of water. If panfish are already done, they likely haven’t left the area and are located out in a little deeper water in 6-12ft of water, in the emerging weedbeds. If they are out here a small minnow or red worm, fished under a bobber has been very effective.
Lake Trout - Lake trout anglers continue to also enjoy some great lake trout fishing. Many anglers have been simply vertically jigging paddle tails, tubes, bucktails or heavy spoons over 20-80ft of water. Being near structure doesn’t seem to be as important as being near the bait schools the lake trout are feeding one, so many anglers have been simply drifting over deep water or trolling over deep water until they connect with some lake trout.
Stream Trout - With many stream trout lakes in the area receiving a fresh stocking of stream trout, the stream trout fishing has been very good for anglers. Anglers fishing from a boat have been trolling small, brightly colored minnow baits, behind cowbells in 10-40ft of water. Anglers fishing from shore have been having great luck fishing with small spoons or a night crawler either floated off the bottom about 3-5ft or fished under a bobber about 5-10ft down.